A nationwide ban on departures at US airports imposed because of a large-scale communications outage has affected more than 1.5 million air passengers. Cirium, an aviation analytics company, told RIA Novosti this in its press service.
According to the agency's source, after 16:00 US East Coast time about 11,000 flights were still due to depart from US airports, with more than 1.5 million passengers scheduled on them.
The emergency departure restrictions took effect at 15:53 local time. Preliminary indications are that they are set to last until 23:00-23:30. Incoming international flights are being handled on a case-by-case basis.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy clarified that the reason for the measures was a communications failure in air traffic control centers. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin added that there is so far no evidence the incident is linked to a malicious attack.
According to the FlightAware service, more than ten thousand flights are delayed. Another more than 1,400 have been canceled. Despite the restrictions, two passenger flights departed from Boston for Europe, and San Francisco airport resumed departures to Asia and Hawaii.
This is the second such case in US history since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Last time, the FAA imposed a ban on domestic flights in January 2023, but the restrictions lasted less than two hours.